Five Stages of Grief
by SeasonalRayn
Summary: One. To leave. Two. To seethe. Three. To plead. Four. To grieve. Five. At peace. /Slight PhanLumi if you squint.


**A/N) You guys check out 'Untitled' if you want feels-breaking. It's my angst kingdom. ;D (it's not really feels-breaking yet, but check it out anyway.)  
Also, prompt stolen from my brother, RainedMirror.  
Prompt: Kübler-Ross Model of Grief / Five Stages of Grief/Depression  
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**Five Stages of Grief  
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_i. To Leave_

"Luminous? Luminous. Come on. We have to go for the meeting now."

Luminous looked up over his cup of tea that he brewed for himself, away from the book that he was studying. He placed down the cup and tilted his head. "Are the other heroes there already?" he asks quietly, as he gets up. The messenger stares at him, open-mouthed, but silent.

"I apologize, Luminous," says the messenger, biting his lip, almost drawing blood. As he speaks, he turns - getting ready to run from the wrath of a skilled magician. "They are deceased and are no longer able to attend the meetings."

"That's a lie," Luminous mutters. He gets up, brushing past the messenger and climbs onto the Lumiére that had been sent to fetch him from his tiny home in what used to be Aurora. "They're still alive. They aren't that weak."

"Without you, they've crumbled apart," the messenger says, boarding the ship with Luminous, before quieting as Luminous shot a glare towards him. Luminous wouldn't believe it. They had to be alive. They had to be there.

The crowd was huge. Packed with the five Cygnus Knights and their three veterans, along with the Resistance and their three veterans plus Claudine and Elex, along with the Silent Crusade, it already added up to a huge number of people. But along with that was the two Novans - Angelic Burster and Kaiser - and Valfor, as well as Alice and Cygnus and Shinsoo and Neinheart and the transcendents Alpha and Beta, and everyone else that wanted to join the battle, the island seemed almost too small.

At least Eckart had the trees to himself. And silence and the darkness he so casually resided in.

...Where are they? They had to be in the crowd. They had to.

_ii. To Seethe_

Luminous was getting angry. Did they really think he was as weak as to not survive? Did they really think he was like Phantom, never preparing, always too late for everything and ending up dead?

For the first time in a year, Eclipse snapped from inside of him, screaming at him. "Why the fuck do you think I blew up Lania's house, huh? They were going to leave! I was going to take over your useless body and your stupid mind and go over to the Temple of Time immediately! But no, you had to stay behind and look after your miserable little wench of a daughter! Look where that took you! They're all dead now and it's all your fault!"

No. It's their fault for leaving. Their fault for never waiting for him. He wasn't so weak! Did they really think that little of him after all? Did he mean nothing?

He'll kill them if he saw them again. It was all their fault. None of it was his! They didn't go out looking for him, they didn't even bother to search for their final member, they don't care at all! They didn't let the boy learn the time spell, didn't train enough, didn't try hard enough to survive!

None of it was his fault! It was all theirs! All of it! He refuses to take part in something that isn't his god damned fault!

_iii. To Plead_

He was breaking. "Please," he begged Rhinne. "Bring them back. I'd give anything. I'd die! I'd go back in time! I just want to see them again! I'm sorry!"

Rhinne pursed her lips, not even opening her eyes to look at the desperate magician. "You had your chance. I tried to give you a little push through Eclipse, and you didn't take it."

"But I haven't even told them how sorry I am! I haven't apologized to Phantom about hitting and stabbing him all the time yet! I haven't finished talking with Aran about battle strategies yet! I haven't even tried to talk to Mercedes about her kingdom! I haven't even met the young boy, the new Dragon Master!"

Rhinne held tight to her statement. Behind her, her children left the temple. Alpha and Beta. The two haven't even mastered their time skills yet - but Luminous begged. They refused, just like Rhinne, and left.

"Please," he begged, unknowing as to who he's pleading to anymore. "Please. I haven't even learned the little boy's name... I haven't even had the chance to know him."

He was answered with only stone-cold silence.

_iv. To Grieve_

He stayed at his home for days afterwards. Curled up on the floor, unwilling to do anything - not even eat or sleep. He refused to do anything, not even when Claudine demanded it. Instead, he lingered around the Lumiére, crying silent tears.

He'd given up begging. Rhinne was set in her decision to not move time back, and Alpha and Beta simply weren't powerful enough to manipulate time to such a scale yet.

He let out an agonized wail, slamming on what used to be the door of Phantom's room with his fists. Why did they have to die? He wasn't there yet. He wasn't even there to say goodbye.

Why didn't he listen to Eclipse and leave? Why was he so stupid? Why, why, why? Why didn't they wait? Why did he get so attached to the girl he found in the woods? Why didn't he leave immediately?

He entered the room, choked up in tears and he cried some more when he witnessed the room itself. Why did he enter? A wilted rose, not fresh or replaced by the phantom thief sat on the dusty bedside table. The sheets were ruined, unchanged. Everything was blank and dusty and when he breathed in he couldn't smell the stupid overpowering scent of Phantom's cologne.

He couldn't understand why he missed that so badly.

_v. At Peace_

Wreathed in the ghosts of the heroes and an army under his control, he charged towards the Black Magician. Half of his army fell by a huge chain that swept across the room, but most survived and were only dazed. The others were swept off the Temple, and landed with an audible smack in the waters below.

He swung his staff, catching the robes of the Black Magician in its many spikes, and dragged him closer. Eclipse's strength was used in a powerful uppercut before he snatched back the staff and stabbed. Bullets flew over his head and into the Black Mage by the pirates that stayed back, and arrows flew everywhere. The warriors combated the many ghouls summoned by the Black Magician, but Luminous had only one goal.

It was a long and grueling battle, but in the end Luminous had his staff over the Black Magician's throat. The Black Magician hissed, bargaining with Luminous or true power if he would join the ranks of his commanders, and Luminous hesitated. Eclipse was fighting to be back with his father, at long last, but Luminous made his decision and brought his staff down.

Blood spattered across the ground, and Luminous let out a sigh he didn't know he was holding. Eclipse snarled from inside of him and he ignored it, leaving the battleground with his bloodstained staff. Rhinne stopped him.

"Are you happy now, Luminous? You have a big job ahead of you, now. Big shoes to fill, as the new transcendent of light."

And for the first time in four years, two hundred and eighty six days, he finally felt at peace from his grief.

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**A/N) GJ Lumi. Almost five years of grief that I did not mention. Too lazy. 8D;;**

**ANYWAY, yep. All the other heroes died because they screwed up. Amazing.**

**Final thing! No editing because I am fabulous! (srsly tho it probably means a lot of things slipped past) [don't judge me for uploading at 1am]**


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